


Ficlet - A Simple Slip

by Shadow_of_Quill



Series: Daemonic Naruto [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-05
Updated: 2012-01-05
Packaged: 2017-10-28 23:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/313487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_of_Quill/pseuds/Shadow_of_Quill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a total accident, and everyone involved knew it. Really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ficlet - A Simple Slip

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Askerian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Askerian/gifts).



Naruto hunched his shoulders and glared at the desk in front of him. Tahani crept nearer, unnoticed, only to panic and flee back to Hinata when he huffed and sat back. Most of the class was ignoring him, but he could hear a soft mutter of "Freak!" and knew they were talking about him.

Everyone called him a monster, and he knew why, but there was nothing he could do about it. It wasn't as if he'd chosen to be the only person in the village without a daemon. He'd just never had one, and while he wasn't aware of any lack in himself, how would he know? If it weren't for the Old Man's assurances, he'd probably have believed everyone who said it proved he had no soul.

He turned resentful eyes on Sasuke, who was determinedly ignoring everyone in the room, including his own daemon. Naruto had seen Sasuke trying to leave his daemon, and while he could never get very far before the pain forced him to stop, he'd tried more than once. And yet everyone loved Sasuke and wouldn't hear a word against him - okay, not everyone, Naruto corrected himself with a slight grin and a glance towards Kiba, but almost everyone. What made trying to separate from your daemon so much better than simply not having one in the first place?

The question forced him out of his chair, and he climbed onto Sasuke's desk, hoping that a closer look at the boy and his daemon might help him finally answer his question. His intent gaze switched between Sasuke and Ekusa, who changed from the snake she'd been coiled up as to a wary housecat.

"Hey! What are you trying to do to Sasuke-kun?" a fangirl shouted, and tried to push Naruto off the desk. Knocked off-balance, he tried to catch himself on his hands.

One of them landed on Ekusa's back.

Shocked silence filled the classroom, everyone staring in frozen horror. Touching someone's daemon was touching their soul, the ultimate taboo. There was no worse violation. Naruto knew that on the same instinctive level as everyone else, but - he couldn't make himself move away.

It didn't _feel_ like a violation. Sasuke and Ekusa weren't treating it as a violation. It felt like - like _Sasuke_ , and Naruto knew Sasuke better than anyone. It felt familiar. It felt _good_.

Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other, silently daring the other one to be the first to pull away.

"Get your hand off her!" yelled Raksu, changing into a heavyset dog and leaping at Naruto, breaking their strange stalemate. Thrown to the floor, Naruto flailed wildly.

It was a total accident that he touched Raksu's fur.

Different from Ekusa, but still no sense of violation - shock and wonder, a feeling of 'This is you?' and 'This is me' all bound up in 'I didn't know you'.

His hand fell away.

They stared at each other as Raksu carefully stepped away from him, back to Sakura, who was similarly dumbfounded. The room was so quiet that everyone heard the daemon mutter in confusion, "He didn't feel like a monster."

"What - did he feel like?" Kiba asked. No one else could bring themselves to speak, and even he was much quieter than he normally was.

Raksu didn't answer, but the look he turned on Naruto said more than any words could have, doubtful but still holding the wonder they'd shared when they touched.

Before anyone else could speak, Iruka came back from his break, Akuri trotting along behind him and sniffing the air suspiciously. "All right, what happened?" he sighed wearily.

Twenty different voices rose to tell him at once, none of them belonging to the people who'd been affected. Sasuke glared at the wall, pretending to ignore everyone. Ekusa kept sending unreadable glances at Naruto and jealous ones at Sakura and Raksu. Sakura was blushing slightly, one hand running over Raksu's fur where Naruto had touched him - not in the gesture of a child who tries to wipe away an unwanted kiss, but the same way a teenager might cup a hand over the part their crush had touched, to keep the touch there.

Naruto just lay on the floor, staring up at the ceiling blankly. He hadn't even noticed Iruka's arrival. He closed his hand slowly, trying to hold onto the feeling of touching Ekusa and Raksu, and a huge smile slowly covered his face as he sighed happily.

 _He didn't feel like a monster._


End file.
